Tuesday, 9 April 2013

The Dauphin's Grand Cabinet

The Grand Cabinet of the Dauphin was originally divided into three different rooms: a study and bedroom for Monsieur and a study for Madame. Monseigneur took over the apartment next until Louis XIV (ever eager for changing his palace) had the three rooms combined into one big apartment for the Dauphin in 1693. Louis XV's (for whom the reconstruction had been done) decided to entirely change the décor of his Grand Cabinet. He only kept the fireplace and the panelling - both done by Verbeckt.

The Dauphin wanted paintings of three of his sisters (Madame Adélaïde, Victoire, Élisabeth and Henriette) and appointed Nattier to perform the task. Today these paintings are no longer in France and has been replaced by paintings by Charles-Joseph Natoire that formerly hung in the princes' apartments at Versailles and Marly. As always, the Dauphin was to have the finest furniture. The writing desk was delivered by Antoine-Robert Gaudreaus but the seats were not created for the Dauphin. Instead they used to occupy the apartment of the Duchesse d'Harcourt. One of the most spectacular objects in the room is the globe - or two globes to be precise.
The inner globe shows the coastlines and heights and depths of the ocean - it was created by Mentelle 1786. The outer one depicts the terrestrial and celestial globe. Besides Mentelle, Vernet and Gardeur were also appointed to finish the globe. It was ordered by Louis XVI who intended to use it for the education of his son, the Dauphin - Louis XVI himself was very interested in geography and probably enjoyed the globe very much himself. A console table (now classified as a part of the French National Treasure) was created for the Dauphin (son of Louis XVI) in 1787.